Alloy for coating metals



UNITED PATENT Prion.

CHARLES E. MANBY, OE MOKEESPOBT, ASSIGNOR TO EDMUND O. CONVERSE, OEPITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

ALLOY FOR COATING METALS.

V SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 306,338, datedOctober 7, 1884.

Application filed October 1!), 187-3.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES E. lVIANBY, ofMcKeesport, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Alloy for Coating Metals; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof.

My invention relates to alloys for coating metals, having specialreference tocertain improvements in the alloy of nickel, lead, tin, andzinc patented by John B. Jones, November 16, 1880, N 0. 234,482.

My invention consists in an alloy composed of lead, zinc, tin, nickel,and copper or copper alloys compounded for use as a coating for metalsheets and other metal articles, to prevent oxidation and otherwise toprotect the surface thereof.

The proportions of my improved alloy preferred by me are lead, fromsixty (60) to eighty (80) per cent. of the entire alloy; zinc, from tento fifteen per cent. ,tin, from fifteen (15) to twenty per cent; nickel,from six onehundredths 3,) of one per cent. to one (1) per cent. andcopper from siX one-hundredths S- of oneper cent. to one (1) per cent.The proportions of the alloy may of course be varied beyond theselimits; but I find the alloy formed more efficient for coating purposeswhen the above proportions are observed, and

that, if the copper exceeds the proportion of one and one-half per cent.of the entire alloy, it is liable in presence of liquids to generategalvanic action with the zinc, and thus gradually destroy the zinc ofthe coating, and the metals thus freed from the coating would bedeleterious to drinking-waters.

' In preparing my improved alloy the nickel, copper, and a portion ofthe lead are first united or alloyed to form what is termed the plant.To accomplish this I generally first melt from one to two pounds ofnickel in a crucible or other suitable furnace, and then add fromfifteen to twenty-five times as much lead, preferably in a molten state.The two metals are raised to a high heat, and a rod or bar of copper isthen inserted through the mouth of the crucible and the meta-ls thor-(N0 specimens.)

oughly stirred and mixed therewith, as described in an application ofeven date here with, No. 109,472. During this mixing, 011 account of thehigh heat of the plant, a portion of the copper rod melts and unites oralloys with the nickel and lead in the crucible,

thus forming an alloy or plant composed of nickel, copper, and lead, theplant generally containing about the same proportions of nickel andcopper.

Instead of introducing the copper in the 6 manner above described, theproper proport on may beplaced in the crucible cold or melted, andpoured in, and the metals of the plant mixed in some other manner; but Iprefer the use of the copper rod, as the other 6 metals are mixedwithout the introduction of any metal foreign to the alloy, and it over-7 comes the necessity of stirring with an iron rod, as has heretoforebeen the practice, thus preventing the introduction of any drossingmetal into the plant, as is fully set forth in an application of evendate herewith. However, the copper may, if desired, be melted in thecrucible, and all or a portion of the nickel be introduced by mixing theplant with a nickel 7 5 rod. The copper may also be introduced in theform of an alloy with any of the metals of my improved alloyas, forexample, brass. The plant thus formed is then cast for future use orpoured directly into the melted lead or melted for coating purposes orpoured into 0 the coating-tank for immediate use. The coating metal isemployed in the same manner as the patented alloy above referred to.

It is found by the practical use of my improved alloy that theintroduction of the cop- 5 per into the plant lowers the temperaturenecessary to melt and alloy the other metals thereof; also, that insteadof rendering useless a The plant is then introduced into the portion ofthe metal, and thus decreasing its binding-power, as is the case whereiron enters the plant, it acts in connection With the nickel and aids itin binding or holding to- 5 gether the other metals of the alloy,causing the metal to hold together under greater changes of temperature,and thus overcoming entirely the parting or separation of the metals onthe cooling of the coating bath. It also IO increases the fluidity ofthe coating bath, and

for this reason reduces the quantity of alloy required for coating.

I am aware that alloys having from eightynine to ninety-five per cent.of copper and dif- I 5 ferent proportions of zinc, tin, lead, and nickelhave been employed for bronzes; but these alloys would not besuitable'for coating purposes.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is20 The alloy for coating metals herein described, composed of lead, tin,zinc, nickel, and copper, the copper being in the proportion of SlXone-hundredths S- of one per cent. to one and one-half (1%) per cent. ofthe entire alloy, 25 substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I, the said OHARLEs E. MANBY, have hereunto set myhand.

I CHARLES E. MANBY.

Vvitnesses:

J AMES I. KAY, J. U. CooKE.

